As a leader you need to think ahead, work out contingency plans, see when a course correction is needed, and generally always be prepared for what is to come. At work, this comes naturally to me.
Home is a bit different. The recent devastation of Hurricane Sandy coupled with my daughter doing a talk for her English class on the Zombie Apocalypse made me think about my personal emergency preparedness. Was I ready? The answer was a resounding no. Today, I made it a priority. It was not that hard. Within a few hours I had a decent kit ready and enough food and water for my family for 72 hours. The food has been labelled so that I can either eat it or donate it to the food bank in advance of it expiring. And I have a really cool urban multitool. I should have done this years ago. But now I am ready.
If you do not have an emergency kit, don't delay any longer. Information is available to help you get started at http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/index-eng.aspx.
Be ready when the Zombies attack!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
The importance of networking
In this day and age of social media, it is pretty easy to have a large network of contacts. Without trying I have 287 LinkedIn connections and 117 Facebook friends. But I recommend having real connections with real people. It is easy to do that with the people who surround you at work, but having more widespread connections is really what you should strive for as that is a lot more valuable. Why? Well, you never know when you will want to hire someone, change jobs, need some advice, and without a wide and very real network it will be difficult for you. How do I know? As with most of my lessons, I learned it the hard way.
In my previous company, in the last 5 years, I made no real effort to get out and actively network with people in the technology community. I had many excuses which included:
-"I don't need to network, I have great people right here at work if I need anything"
-"I want to give the opportunities that I see to some of the younger people here; they should do the networking"
-"I am too tired to go to a breakfast meeting and then work my regular long hours"
-"LinkedIn is a great way to network"
As you can see the excuses were weak. Truth be told, I just didn't feel like doing it. I got lazy. And that was fine until I decided to change my career and partner in a startup. I wish now, that I had spent more time keeping up my connections instead of cocooning for the past five years. Because I did that then, now in my new company hiring was harder, getting advice on lawyers and accountants to use in the area was harder, getting first hand experience in what we should do in our startup was harder. My LinkedIn connections were pretty useless as I mostly had connected with people who I knew at work or people who did not live in my local community and so could not help with the problem at hand (side note: LinkedIn turned out to be a valuable tool for recruiting but not until I built a good local network and paid them for additional services).
I am not the only one in this position. In the last short while, as I build my local network, I have met many people who did not nurture their personal local network and now are having to start over. For some who find themselves without jobs, the struggle to build a real network is immediate and when you are under pressure it can be a daunting chore.
The good news, however, is that with just a bit of work, it is straightforward to fix. You need to get out there, reach out to people you once new, get introductions, go out to coffee, go out for lunch, join the local community groups, join local interest groups, talk to people you don't know but would like to know, join a breakfast group, watch the twitter feeds from local organizations to learn about events, etc. I found it quite tiring at first - too many new people, too many new things .... but the real problem was me. As usual, I was trying to accomplish something immediately with my contacts. That will never work. Just put yourself out there, but don't force it - make contacts naturally, and see what comes of it. The goal is to build a network of local contacts that you might someday use or that you might someday help. It is a two way street. Since this "epiphany" my network building has been a lot more interesting and fun. And I consider it a valuable use of my time and part of my work, not just a side activity.
From my new network I have gotten some great advice; I have been put in touch with some talented people that I might some day hire; I have learned about interesting tools that I now use on a daily basis; and I have a newfound respect for what is going on in technology in my community. A lot of upside for a small amount of consistent effort.
If you don't have a local network, start building one before you really need it. If you have one, good for you, but don't forget to keep it going. Social media is interesting and provides a lot of unique opportunities. But good old fashioned face to face networking is irreplaceable.
In my previous company, in the last 5 years, I made no real effort to get out and actively network with people in the technology community. I had many excuses which included:
-"I don't need to network, I have great people right here at work if I need anything"
-"I want to give the opportunities that I see to some of the younger people here; they should do the networking"
-"I am too tired to go to a breakfast meeting and then work my regular long hours"
-"LinkedIn is a great way to network"
As you can see the excuses were weak. Truth be told, I just didn't feel like doing it. I got lazy. And that was fine until I decided to change my career and partner in a startup. I wish now, that I had spent more time keeping up my connections instead of cocooning for the past five years. Because I did that then, now in my new company hiring was harder, getting advice on lawyers and accountants to use in the area was harder, getting first hand experience in what we should do in our startup was harder. My LinkedIn connections were pretty useless as I mostly had connected with people who I knew at work or people who did not live in my local community and so could not help with the problem at hand (side note: LinkedIn turned out to be a valuable tool for recruiting but not until I built a good local network and paid them for additional services).
I am not the only one in this position. In the last short while, as I build my local network, I have met many people who did not nurture their personal local network and now are having to start over. For some who find themselves without jobs, the struggle to build a real network is immediate and when you are under pressure it can be a daunting chore.
The good news, however, is that with just a bit of work, it is straightforward to fix. You need to get out there, reach out to people you once new, get introductions, go out to coffee, go out for lunch, join the local community groups, join local interest groups, talk to people you don't know but would like to know, join a breakfast group, watch the twitter feeds from local organizations to learn about events, etc. I found it quite tiring at first - too many new people, too many new things .... but the real problem was me. As usual, I was trying to accomplish something immediately with my contacts. That will never work. Just put yourself out there, but don't force it - make contacts naturally, and see what comes of it. The goal is to build a network of local contacts that you might someday use or that you might someday help. It is a two way street. Since this "epiphany" my network building has been a lot more interesting and fun. And I consider it a valuable use of my time and part of my work, not just a side activity.
From my new network I have gotten some great advice; I have been put in touch with some talented people that I might some day hire; I have learned about interesting tools that I now use on a daily basis; and I have a newfound respect for what is going on in technology in my community. A lot of upside for a small amount of consistent effort.
If you don't have a local network, start building one before you really need it. If you have one, good for you, but don't forget to keep it going. Social media is interesting and provides a lot of unique opportunities. But good old fashioned face to face networking is irreplaceable.
What women know about leadership that men don't
I read and enjoyed this article from the HBR.
http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2012/10/what-women-know-that-men-dont.html
http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2012/10/what-women-know-that-men-dont.html
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